Ezekiel 21:8-17

The destroying sword of the Lord. The violent agitation of the prophet at the thought of the coming destruction finds expression in a wild and irregular ode upon the sword of the Lord. The general sense of the poem is discernible, but as in ch. 7 the text is in several places very obscure (e.g. Ezekiel 21:10; Ezekiel 21:13). There appear to be four divisions:

Ezekiel 21:9. A sword is furbished that it may glitter terribly in the eyes of men (cf. Ezekiel 32:10); it is sharpened for the slaughter furbished and sharpened to give it into the hand of the slayer.

Ezekiel 21:12. The prophet must cry and howl and smite in wild excitement on his thigh, for the princes of Israel and the people are delivered over to the sword. His agitation is but the reflexion of the carnage which shall be witnessed.

Ezekiel 21:14. The sword is doubled and tripled; universal shall be the carnage.

Ezekiel 21:16. Wild apostrophe to the sword to execute its task in all directions. Sympathy of Jehovah with the terrible work.